Professionally filmed video footage of VELVET REVOLVER performing at the Download festival on June 8, 2007 at Donington Park, Leicestershire, England is available for viewing at YouTube.

An eight-minute video interview with VELVET REVOLVER frontman Scott Weiland and drummer Matt Sorum, which aired on June 6 on Canada’s “The Hour”, is available for viewing at this location.

The German branch of Sony BMG has uploaded audio samples of three of the tracks that are featured on VELVET REVOLVER’s European EP, “Melody and the Tyranny”, which was released on June 1. The EP contains two tracks from the band’s new CD, “Libertad”, as well as TALKING HEADS cover “Psycho Killer” (which was recorded during the “Libertad” sessions) and a video documentary about the making of “Libertad”.

“Libertad” will be released on July 3 in two formats: a CD version, which will also include the documentary, and a CD/DVD version, which will feature a bonus DVD with a 30-minute documentary about the 2007 South American tour.

ALICE IN CHAINS is writing songs for its first new studio album in 12 years, according to a source close to the band. A person named “the Baldy,” who says his job is “to travel the world with ALICE IN CHAINS and send photos, videos and blog entries back to (the webmasters) at AliceInChains.com,” recently provided this update: “I’ve been (in Los Angeles) for five days, sat through three rehearsals and one demo recording session, listened to several other demos, and I can happily report that the new stuff is kicking my ass right out of my pants.” There is no word on whether William DuVall, who sang with the group on last year’s reunion tour, is also handing vocals for the new material, and there’s also no official info on when an album might be released.

Guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez reunited in 2005 at a tsunami benefit in Seattle before heading out last year on full European and North American tours with DuVall singing.

Cantrell told Launch last year that while new music wasn’t out of the question, the band wasn’t ready to commit to anything. “It’s gonna be cool to see what happens,” he said. “I’m just really excited about the possibilities, ’cause there’s a lot of possibilities open. And that’s a pretty cool place to start and it’s a good place to just leave it there, rather than just making a bunch of claims of what we’re gonna do and not living up to them (laughs).”

ALICE IN CHAINS performed at the second annual “VH1 Rock Honors”, which was taped on May 12 in Las Vegas. This year’s show honored OZZY OSBOURNE, HEART, GENESIS and ZZ TOP, with performances and tributes from QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, NICKELBACK, KEANE and others.

Rudy Sarzo joins BLUE ÖYSTER CULT as bassist for the balance of 2007. Former bassist with QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE and longtime friend of the band, Rudy will play until Ronnie James Dio returns from touring with HEAVEN AND HELL (Rudy is the current bassist in Ronnie’s band DIO).

Rudy and BLUE ÖYSTER CULT singer Eric Bloom have been friends since meeting up at “Hear ‘N Aid” in 1985. Eric says that “Buck and I are really happy to have Rudy playing bass with us. He’s a great fit and a great guy.”

Richie Castellano will continue handling the left side of the stage on keyboards, guitar and vocals.

A video clip of Sarzo handling bass guitar duties for BLUE ÖYSTER CULT’s April 28, 2007 concert at the Hawgs of Texas motorcycle rally in Lake Somerville, TX has been posted at “Burnin’ for You” at YouTube.

WHITE LION To Be Part Of POISON US Tour After All?
According to BW&BK sources, WHITE LION might be on POISON’s US tour this summer after all. An official press release confirming the tour line-up is expected Monday morning (June 4th) at 9am PST. As we reported yesterday (June 2nd), VAINS OF JENNA had been officially tapped as their replacement for the tour. Rumour has it that White Lion’s apparent removal from the bill was the direct result of a cease and desist order, issued by former guitarist Vito Bratta, in regard to the use of the White Lion name.

Buckcherry announced they are teaming up with Hinder and Papa Roach for the “Bad Boys of Rock” summer tour, starting July 13 in Lansing, Michigan at the Adado Riverfront Park (complete itinerary below). Having traversed the globe for the past year in support of their current release 15 (Eleven Seven Music/Atlantic Records), Buckcherry are ready to fill stadiums luring fans with smash hits “Crazy Bitch,” “Everything” and crowd favorite “Lit Up.” The tour was secured when Buckcherry were recently honored by Hinder and Papa Roach for their 200th show and one-year anniversary of “15” in April at Buzzfest in Houston, TX. “Guaranteed to be slammin’ — the rock tour of the summer!” said Josh Todd.

The two-time Grammy® nominee and gold certified rock underdogs Buckcherry have a new video for their current single “Everything” in rotation at VH1. and is certified gold.

The track just passed 2200 spins at radio and is ranked #7 at active rock and #7 at mainstream and going to Top 40 now. “15” has remained in the Top 200 since its debut in April 2006

Tickets for the above dates are available through EnterTheVault.com and all normal ticketing outlets.

LILLIAN AXE has had the release date of its first new studio album in nearly fifteen years (and first for the Metro City Records label), titled “Waters Rising”, pushed back to July 17 from the previously announced June 19. The CD’s title cut is now available for streaming at this location (second song in audio player).

“This album has been conceptually in the works for years,” explained guitarist Steve Blaze. “‘Waters Rising’ represents the boiling point factor, that life seems to be a tumultuous ride always on the brink of explosion. These recent times on this planet seem to be proving this point. However, in each individual is the point where you reconcile this within your spirit and peace takes over allowing you to cope more effectively. The songs on this record cover the different ways that we deal with this factor and the fact that everyone is trying to make sense of it.”

Tour dates for this summer’s match made in Heaven…or Hell…are announced today. MARILYN MANSON and SLAYER‘s 25-city co-headline North American tour will kick off on July 25 in West Palm Beach, FL, pillaging its way cross-country to wrap up in San Antonio, TX on September 1. Confirmed dates are below.

For this two-pronged-threat double bill, SLAYER and MANSON will each play full sets with BLEEDING THROUGH and one other support band, yet to be determined, opening all shows.

MARILYN MANSON just wrapped up work on his upcoming June release to be titled “Eat Me, Drink Me”, which Rolling Stone magazine anticipates as “epic.” Voted “Best Band in the World” by Kerrang! magazine, the army of noise behind MANSON‘s bitterness is at once raw and massive when witnessing him live — “rousing the crowd with focused ardor,” states the New York Times.

Celebrating its 26th year together, the always-uncompromising SLAYER was recently named “Best Live Band” in SPIN‘s 2006 Readers’ Poll, and picked up their first Grammy Award in February for “Best Metal Performance.” Their latest album, “Christ Illusion” — which debuted at #5 on Billboard’s albums chart — takes on the U.S. Government about the War in Iraq, prompting one newspaper to speculate, “If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, he undoubtedly would be listening to SLAYER.”

Confirmed tour dates for the SLAYER/MARILYN MANSON co-headline summer tour are as follows:

POISON and RATT (featuring singer Stephen Pearcy) will join forces for a summer trek starting June 13 at the Bi Lo Center in Greenville, S.C., and wrapping in early September.

The tour, which brings RATT and POISON onstage together for the first time since 1999, will visit amphitheaters, festivals and fairs in such cities as Boston, Detroit, New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, said Troy Blakely, who books POISON with the Agency for the Performing Arts.
“Generally we’re going to play 50-60 dates,” Blakely told Billboard.com. “I’d say 30-35 are sheds. The rest are various festivals, fairs and indoor shows.”

WHITE LION has been confirmed for Rocklahoma, a three-day outdoor ’80s hard rock festival, set to take place July 13-15, in Pryor, OK at the Pryor Festival Grounds. Also rumored to be appearing is TWISTED SISTER, although the band’s participation has not yet been officially confirmed by the event organizers. The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

WHITE LION is rumored to have been added to the POISON/RATT summer tour, which is tentatively scheduled to kick off June 12. This information, however, has not yet been confirmed by an official source.

WHITE LION is planning a small European tour starting with an appearance at Italy’s Gods of Metal festival on June 2 and including dates in Turkey, Italy and Sweden (where the group will perform at the Sweden Rock Festival on June 8). The band is also working on releasing a new WHITE LION album late summer.

Tramp recently made an appearance on Eddie Trunk’s “Friday Night Rocks” radio show on New York’s Q104.3 FM to respond to an interview with ex-WHITE LION guitarist Vito Bratta in which Vito expressed interest in reuniting with his former band. While Tramp didn’t rule out the possibility of a collaboration with Vito, he made it clear during his appearance on “Friday Night Rocks” that he wanted Bratta to take the first step and stop making excuses for why he has remained musically inactive for the past 15 years.

DREAM THEATER’s new album, Systematic Chaos, will be released on Tuesday, June 5th via Roadrunner Records. The release date may vary slightly in different countries. The album will be available as a regular jewel case edition and a Special Edition DVD version. The artwork for the Special Edition can be viewed on the left.

The Special Edition DVD version will also include the entire album mixed in 5.1 surround sound and Chaos In Progress – The Making Of Systematic Chaos, a 90-minute documentary directed by drummer Mike Portnoy).

The band will shoot a video for the first single off the album, ‘Constant Motion’, next week.

As previously reported, Dream Theater’s tour schedule is currently as follows, with more dates due to be announced for North America soon:

BROKEN TEETH, the Austin-based hard rock quintet featuring former DANGEROUS TOYS/WATCHTOWER vocalist Jason McMaster, has set the tentative track listing for its upcoming CD, “Electric”, a collection of new and re-recorded tracks from their self-released albums “Broken Teeth” and “Guilty Pleasures”. The CD is set to hit stores in August via Corporate Punishment/Navarre. The track listing is as follows:

May wil also see the national re-release of “Guilty Pleasures” and “Blood on the Radio: LIVE”, which will be made available in a special CD DVD combo package.

Commented CPR President Thom Hazaert, “Jason McMaster is, without a doubt, one of the true godfathers of the modern Texas metal/hard rock sound. As a huge fan of his for over two decades, in both WATCHTOWER and DANGEROUS TOYS, we’re extremely proud of these releases and of being able to finally get the chance to bring BROKEN TEETH to a national audience.”

The original lineup of EXTREME will reunite for a benefit concert and auction in New York City in honor of music manager Steven Hoffman. Hoffman, who worked with RUSH, VAN HALEN and EXTREME, died of lung cancer in 2003. The event will take place on May 18 at the 450-capacity Canal Room, 285 West Broadway, NYC from 7:00 to 10:30 p.m. Other bands scheduled to play at the event include EVOLUTION (the ultimate JOURNEY tribute band), VALENTINE and “All-Star Rock Jam” (featuring BLACK LABEL SOCIETY bassist John “J.D.” DeServio, among others). A live and silent auction will also be held to raise money for lung cancer research. Some of the items to be auctioned off include an autographed Nuno Bettencourt Washburn guitar, an autographed Geddy Lee bass and other great and rare rock n’ roll memorabilia.

According to Florida’s Palm Beach Post, MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil, former Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Todd Wade and former Florida Gator southpaw quarterback Bob Hewko just signed a partnership with M&M to open a rock ‘n’ roll themed bar-restaurant in West Palm Beach named Dr. Feelgood’s Rock Bar, after the 1989 album by Neil‘s band. The joint, in the space currently occupied by MonkeyClub, will be stuffed with Neil memorabilia and his Harley collection. The bar area will be designed to look like a pharmacy, the liquor bottles will be displayed between oversized pharmaceuticals and the bartenders will wear sexy nurses’ uniforms.

“Vince has a condo in Miami Beach and we met through a mutual friend,” Mash said. “We’ve been talking to him about this for a while. He wants to give a free concert for the grand opening. He loves the location.”

Next door, former Bravo cable network “Top Chef” star Stephen Asprinio, 24, is scheduled to open Forte Di Asprinio, an Italian joint, with his uncle, Palm Beach moneybags Bob Cuillo. He is founder of the nearby Cuillo Centre for the Arts.

“They’re both putting money into that project,” Mash said. “People go to dinner there, then go for a drink at Dr. Feelgood.”

A third new place with the feel of an NYC-style club, Rebar, and a fourth, Lost Weekend, are also planned at the complex.

GREAT WHITE members Jack Russell (vocals), Mark Kendall (guitar), Michael Lardie (keyboards, guitar), Sean McNabb (bass) and Audie Desbrow (drums) are currently putting the finishing touches on a 25th-anniversary reunion album, due later in the year. The CD is being produced by Lardie.

GREAT WHITE recently performed at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California to celebrate the release of the “VH1 Metal Mania Stripped Volume 3″ CD. Also appearing on the bill were members of QUEENSRŸCHE, TESLA, RATT, and DOKKEN.

The traveling extravaganza will once again be headlined by OZZY OSBOURNE, with the rest of the lineup yet to be announced. Ozzfest co-founder Sharon Osbourne said during a press conference last month that doing the tour like this was unprecedented: “We’re doing 25 shows across America, and it’s the first time that actually a summer festival tour has gone out free. There’s been millions of free one-off shows, but this is gonna be a 25-city tour. And we’re having our second stage, as usual, and everything goes as normal, except it’s free.”

Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice will reunite for the first time in 15 years as HEAVEN AND HELL to cast a dark spell over spring as the quartet tours the U.S. Tickets will go on sale the weekend of March 9 for all 20 stops of the American leg (except Houston, on sale March 17), which is set to launch in Phoenix on April 22. There will also be a special fan presale for all dates beginning Wednesday, March 7 at 12 Noon EST. The tour will follow in the wake of the band’s highly anticipated Radio City Music Hall concert in New York City on March 30, which sold out in a matter of minutes.

Last year, the hard-rocking quartet convened to record three new songs for Rhino Records’ era-spanning collection, “Black Sabbath: The Dio Years”, due out April 3 on Rhino/Warner Bros. Records. One of the newly recorded tracks — “The Devil Cried” — is the first single. Bristling with the trademark SABBATH sound, the song is being well received by fans and critics alike.

The sessions for “Black Sabbath: The Dio Years” went so well that the band agreed to satisfy longstanding demands for a reunion tour. Set to launch in Canada on March 11, the HEAVEN AND HELL world tour will spotlight Dio’s tenure with SABBATH and will feature selections from all three of the group’s the studio albums, “Heaven And Hell” (1980), “Mob Rules” (1981) and “Dehumanizer” (1992), as well as the newly recorded tracks.

Multi-platinum recording artist MEGADETH will join the tour and preview never before heard material from the group’s new CD, “United Abominations”, due out May 8 on Roadrunner Records. All dates will also feature Roadrunner labelmates MACHINE HEAD who are supporting their latest album, “The Blackening”, set for release on March 27.
HEAVEN AND HELL, MEGADETH, MACHINE HEAD tour dates: